A 62-year-old man was killed Friday after police said he shot at SWAT team members during an early morning raid at his southwest Canton apartment.

Five others inside 1712 15th St. SW were arrested, as police seized an undisclosed amount of crack cocaine, reports said.

The man killed, Jimmy James, was shot several times during the exchange.

James evidently heard SWAT team members break open the door and announce their entry around 7:30 a.m. Friday, Police Chief Dean McKimm said.

James broke out his bedroom window as he tried to flee, the chief said.

“He encountered officers stationed outside, pointed his weapon at them and then retreated back into the bedroom,” McKimm said. “As he retreated in the bedroom, he then confronted the SWAT officers inside. He fired at least one round at them, and then he sustained shots from both the officers outside and inside the apartment.”

McKimm said results of an investigation into the raid will be turned over to a Stark County grand jury for review once the investigation is completed. Such reviews are standard when police are involved in a fatal shooting.

OFFICER STRUCK, SUSPECT KILLED

One member of the SWAT team was hit in the helmet amid the gunfire but not seriously injured. Sgt. Charles Saler’s (Information has been corrected to fix an error. See correction at end of story. May 9, 2 p.m.) helmet was hit with the fragment, which “would have been ours,” McKimm said.

“It wasn’t from the suspect’s weapon,” he said. “There were a lot of bullets flying.”

Saylor was taken to an area hospital per the chief’s orders. He was released and returned to duty, McKimm said.

Police believe that James was hit three times.

McKimm, citing the ongoing investigation, said the names of the officers involved in the shooting would be released later.

James was pronounced dead in Aultman Hospital’s emergency room at 8:09 a.m., said Harry Campbell, chief investigator for the Stark County Coroner’s Office. Campbell said that an autopsy was planned for later Friday, but that preliminary results of his investigation showed that James had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

SWAT, vice and patrol officers went to the four-unit apartment building as part of a drug investigation, said Capt. Dave Davis, who heads the Canton Police Department’s Detective Bureau.

“Prior investigation revealed the apartment was being used as a base to distribute and sell illegal drugs,” McKimm said.

Five other people were inside James’ apartment when the SWAT team entered, Davis said, adding that only James shot at the officers.

Each faces a misdemeanor charge of being present in a place where a controlled substance is used. Wilson also faces a Massillon Municipal Court warrant charging her with grand theft of a motor vehicle.

Police also found drug paraphernalia and about $1,000 that investigators believe were the proceeds of illegal drug sales, McKimm said.

They also recovered the small-caliber, semi-automatic handgun James had used, the chief said.

After the raid Friday morning, patrol officers closed the 1700 block of 15th Street SW and a portion of Mariol Court SW. They remained on the scene much of the morning searching for evidence inside the building and in the yard.

Margie Winn, who has lived across the street since the beginning of the month, said she heard the commotion.

“I heard several gunshots. I thought, ‘What in the world was that?’ I came outside and then I saw all the police.”

She said that her mother had just left to take two of her children to school, and that her other children were asleep upstairs.

“My two-year-old slept through it — all of it,” Winn said.

Police were called 28 times between May 6, 2010, and Friday to the 1700 block of 15th Street SW, police records show. The calls ranged from reports of trouble and disturbances to a burglary, a fight, three domestic violence cases and destruction of property.

James’ family could not be reached for comment later Friday.

Stark County Court records show James went to prison for three years after his conviction in 2006 of cocaine possession and weapons-related charges.

CORRECTION: Sgt. Charles Saler is a member of the Canton SWAT team. His name was misspelled in this story when first published Friday.